1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to control of consumer electronics, and more specifically, to a process for creating activity or experience-based operations for controlling consumer electronics.
2. Related Art
The installation of computer networks (for homes and businesses) presents several challenges. For example, installing a computer network can be time extensive and expensive to deploy. Additionally, there is no easy method to integrate, for example, home computer networks with other residential devices, such as televisions, stereos, DVD players, and other home electronics. Being able to efficiently distribute digital audio/video (AV) data among personal computers and other AV devices (such as, televisions, DVD players, PVRs, etc.) is complicated by differing and evolving communications standards and/or formats.
Another significant challenge is being able to effectively control networked residential devices. Although a remote control unit (RCU) can be trained to send signals to components of an entertainment center (such as, a television, stereo, and DVD player), a conventional RCU cannot communicate and control multiple personal computers and other analog and/or digital devices at a residence. In addition, a conventional RCU cannot communicate and control multiple residential devices without user intervention. Even with a conventional RCU, a user must manually activate a hard key to send a command (in the form of infrared signals) to a controllable consumer electronic (CE) device having direct line-of-sight connectivity with the RCU.
A conventional RCU suffers from other serious deficiencies that limit its usefulness without constant user intervention. For instance in the “set up” process of a conventional RCU, the user can program the device by assigning a particular key with a series of key strokes that are stored in the RCU's memory. However, the user cannot inform the RCU of critical operational information of the controllable devices (e.g., television, DVD player, etc.).
Such critical operational information includes the input state (i.e., what signals are coming into what input).
For example, if a television is set to the tuner input (instead of the input for receiving DVD data) when a RCU is operated to play a DVD installed in a DVD player, the television will display the broadcast channel to which it is tuned at the time, and not the desired DVD. The user must physically select the proper input by cycling through the available inputs using the input selection button. The lack of input state information also precludes the user from switching between different activities (e.g., watching DVD, watching broadcast TV, watching cable) without also physically changing from the current input state to the new state, thereby placing the television in the proper input state.
Although the combination of improved computer processing capabilities and global access to information has resulted in significant advancements in the information processing age, there exists a need for a simple, inexpensive, yet versatile system that can integrate the functions of multiple residential devices connected to a residential network and facilitate the operations of these devices with minimal user intervention.